Seasons Greetings from O9 Modeller

Time for a quick seasonal update from the O9 Modeller camp.  Firstly, a very Merry Christmas from all at Peake Towers to readers of the blog and all fellow O9 Modellers, please do keep in touch with the latest about your own projects through 2014.

You may be wondering what has happened to the diorama concept that I have mentioned a couple of times. Well, it got a fair way into being, before those nagging doubts crept in and I had a rethink on the way it went together.  I then came to the decision that the shed really should belong on a micro layout rather than diorama, so the diorama has been reduced to something that could sit within my wall mounted display cabinet rather than in a separate display case.  It may never be completed at this rate...

On a more positive note I have completed three more pages from the old Fotopic site, bringing the 'Shifting Sands' story up the the point of the layout's first public appearance in November 2006, and detailing the construction of 'Pandora'.  To mark this point in progress, I've recycled the 2007 Christmas header from the old site!

Colin

Early in the Day II

It's been rather quiet on the blog of late, in fact I'm fairly sure that someone stole November...  Anyhow, I have made some progress with the planned diorama 'End of the Day', to the extent where there is ballasted track on a base, some painted up fencing, and this (low relief) shed building:

On my return from Skegness I had consulted with a few well known miniature railway enthusiasts about the South Parade line, which resulted in a few more photos coming my way which showed the shed in earlier days, revealing it in an unpainted concrete finish rather than the painted finish it now has.

I have had to stretch the Skegness design slightly in width to accommodate two 15" tracks and incorporated features from different eras in its life.  I've finished most of the paintwork tonight - the irony is that at the present point of time the diorama project is a bit up in the air (long story) and the eagle eyed will see that the opposite door is open to that in the diorama mock-up.  Part of me feels this might be too good for a diorama and needs to be on a layout! Hmm...

A quick description of it's construction.  A 5mm Foamcore shell, clad with cardboard for the concrete areas (including all those ribs!), pained with a mix of lightweight filler and acylic paint to get some texture, then lightly sanded back to remove some.  Wooden parts are basswood or 1mm plywood, whilst the roof is Wills 4mm scale box profile steel, cut up to give a sheet join and thinned on the lower edge.  Hinges and door furniture are scratchbuilt, whilst the fixings on the concrete panels are Grandt Line mouldings.

Oh, if anyone is wondering what has happened to the Shifting Sands pages from Fotopic - I will get back into the swing of uploading these, I promise....

Colin